Pilot

Basic prerequisites
1) You must complete Class XII under the 10+2 system or its equivalent with a minimum of 50 per cent marks in maths and physics.
2) You must be at least 16 years of age to be eligible for a Student Pilot License, 17 for a Private Pilot License, and 18 for a Commercial Pilot License.
3) Alternatively, you could directly enroll for the Private Pilot License once you have cleared Class XII and are 17 years old. This involves taking an exam conducted by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation* consisting of theory papers on air navigation, aviation meteorology, air regulation and technical aspects.
4) Your vision in one eye must be perfect. In general medical terminology, it is called 6/6 eyesight. In the other eye, you could have an imperfection of 6/9, which must be correctable to 6/6.
General physical fitness is mandatory. You must be free of any disease that can hamper normal function.
5)You need to complete the requisite number of hours, clear written papers and the medical examination. 6)You need 70 percent marks to pass in each of these papers. You can keep appearing until you clear them.
Note: The application form is available at all flying clubs. You can also write to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Send a self-addressed envelope, requesting them to send it back to you.

Basic prerequisites:
You must complete class XII under the 10+2 system or its equivalent with a minimum of 50% marks in maths and physics.
You must be at least 16 years of age to be eligible for a Student Pilot License, 17 for a Private Pilot License, and 18 for a Commercial Pilot License.
Alternatively, you could directly enroll for the Private Pilot License once you have cleared Class XII and are 17 years old. This involves taking an exam conducted by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation consisting of theory papers on air navigation, aviation meteorology, air regulation and technical aspects.
Your vision in one eye must be perfect. In general medical terminology, it is called 6/6 eyesight. In the other eye, you could have an imperfection of 6/9, which must be correctable to 6/6.
General physical fitness is mandatory. You must be free of any disease that can hamper normal function.
You need to complete the requisite number of hours, clear written papers and the medical examination. You need 70 percent marks to pass in each of these papers. You can keep appearing until you clear them.
Note: The application form is available at all flying clubs. You can also write to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Send a self-addressed envelope, requesting them to send it back to you.

Educational: To become a commercial pilot in India, one has to first possess a Student Pilot License (SPL). To get the SPL those with 10+2 with Science and aged at least 16 years should register at a flying club which is recognized by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Government of India. Registration requires a medical certificate, security clearance and a bank guarantee. An oral examination in subjects such as Air Regulations, Aviation Meteorology, Air Navigation, Engine (technical and specific) follows the registration. Successful completion of the examination entitles you for an SPL certificate. The second step is the Private Pilot License (PPL). PPL training includes sixty hours of flying of which about fifteen hours are dual flights, that is accompanied by the flight instructor and at least 30 hours of solo flights apart from five hours of cross-country flying. This makes one eligible for the PPL exam, which consists of Air Regulation, Aviation Meteorology, Air Navigation, Aircraft Engines and Seamanship. The prescribed age for appearing for this exam is 17 years and an educational qualification of 10+2 along with a medical Fitness Certificate issued by the Armed Forces Central Medical Establishment (AFCME).nA Commercial Pilot Licence may be obtained only after a PPL has been acquired. To obtain a Commercial Pilots License (CPL) 250 hours of flying (including 60 hours for the PPL) is necessary. Besides that you have to undergo a Medical Fitness Test which is held at New Delhi and an examination which consists of Air Regulations, Aviation Meteorology, Air Navigation, Technical, Planning, and communications in the form of Radio & Wireless Transmission. With the CPL, a pilot can take up any professional assignment.

Most commercial airlines require an associates degree at a minimum to get hired on with almost all of the major airlines requiring a Bachelors degree. It doesn't matter if your degree is in underwater basket weaving, a degree is a degree and it checks off the box for the requirement. Specialised degrees, such as aviation business degrees are a great bonus, but won't necessarily get you a job with an airline. They also limit you down the road if you have an epiphany and realize that you hate flying. Now you have to redo a bunch of coursework that probably won't transfer to another field or degree. I would pursue what you enjoy in a field of study and see if there is a way you can tie it into aviation. Something like electronics engineering with a specialty or minor in aviation comes to mind. The one specific thing that you can do to help to become an airline pilot is to start flying as soon as possible. As I have eluded to in other answers, while having a degree may be a mandate to getting hired on with the airlines, having the 1500 flight hours is also a requirement (there are some exemptions to this rule). You could take every college level aviation course out there, and if you don't have flight time, you will be stuck doing something else other than flying for sure. Whether you do the flight training in conjunction with your college coursework or attend a flying school not affiliated with your college is up to you, and both have their strengths and weaknesses.

By course, I am assuming that you mean a major field of study, or curriculum and not a specific class. The answer to the second part of your question is a resounding YES.
Most commercial airlines require an associates degree at a minimum to get hired on with almost all of the major airlines requiring a bachelors degree. It doesn't matter if your degree is in underwater basket weaving, a degree is a degree and it checks off the box for the requirement.
Specialized degrees, such as aviation business degrees are a great bonus, but won't necessarily get you a job with an airline. They also limit you down the road if you have an epiphany and realize that you hate flying. Now you have to redo a bunch of course work that probably won't transfer to another field or degree. I would pursue what you enjoy in a field of study and see if there is a way you can tie it into aviation. Something like electronics engineering with a specialty or minor in aviation comes to mind.
The one specific thing that you can do to help to become an airline pilot is to start flying as soon as possible. As I have eluded to in other answers, while having a degree may be a mandate to getting hired on with the airlines, having the 1500 flight hours is also a requirement (there are some exeptions to this rule). You could take every college level aviation course out there, and if you don't have flight time, you will be stuck doing something else other than flying for sure. Whether you do the flight training in conjunction with your college course work, or attend a flying school not affiliated with your college is up to you, and both have their strengths and weaknesses.

There is an "All India Pilot Challenge scholarship exam and earn a scholarship. This examination is conducted once a year between April and June. Aspiring student pilots across the nation graduating this academic year are invited to participate in this scholarship competition. Participating students will be sent a series of information emails on the following:
Career opportunities as a pilot:
Requirements and training involved in becoming a pilot competition details. This will be followed by a written aptitude test in four major cities across the country following the end of the 12th standard exams. The top 200 participants of this exam will be invited for an interview and pilot aptitude test on our flight simulator at Delta Flight School, Chennai. The top 120 students from this selection process will be offered appropriate scholarship awards in a dedicated award ceremony to be held at Chennai. The topper who clears all the stages of the competition will be sponsored a Commercial Pilot License, worth Rs. 25 lacs. The top 120 students in the selection process will be awarded other scholarships. Hope this information helps. Please feel free to revert.